Ancient China · Philosopher and Scholar

Confucius 孔子

Kongzi

Attested c. BC 551 - c. BC 479

Passages: 2
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Confucius was a Philosopher and Scholar.

Life and dates

Attested activity

c. BC 551 to c. BC 479 孔子書「元年」為《春秋》大法
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 10, passage 133
c. BC 551 to c. BC 479 孔子未修《春秋》
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 10, passage 131

Works and attributed material

Spring and Autumn Annals 春秋
Relation Editor
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 10, passages 131, 133

Assessments and attributes

Assessment later pedantic scholars treated his writing of yuan-nian in the Spring and Autumn as that classic’s grand law · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 10, passage 133

Source notes

Historicity historical
Directly stated · New History of the Five Dynasties 10, passage 131

References in the histories

New History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 10Volume 10 Later Jin Annals 1: Gaozu, Emperor Yin · 2 passages

孔子未修《春秋》，其前固已如此，雖暴君昏主，妄庸之史，其記事先後遠近，莫不以歲月一二數之，乃理之自然也。 Even before Confucius edited the Spring and Autumn Annals the practice was fixed: tyrants and foolish kings, with incompetent scribes, still ordered events near and far by a year or two of numbering—it is simply how reason arranges things.

及後世曲學之士，始謂孔子書「元年」為《春秋》大法，遂以改元為重事。 Only later did narrow scholars decide that Confucius’s “year one” in the Spring and Autumn Annals was the classic’s grand law, and they turned the change of reign title into a solemn matter.